If you love cats, you'll love this Cartier film

"One small step for the movie industry, one giant step for Cartier," announced Emmanuel Perrin, the president and CEO of Cartier North America, in a small theater at the Metropolitan Museum's Egyptian wing on Wednesday night. Expecting nothing less from the Maison du Cartier, the grandiose cocktail hour for a small group previewing the film was held on the base of the Temple of Dendur under the famous slanted glass wall and surrounded by a moat, indicating this was not going to be the average quirky two-minute promo video that would bounce around blogs and YouTube channels for a few days. Sure enough, in just three minutes, L'Odyssée de Cartier follows a breathtaking panther (symbolic to the house and inspired by Cartier's creative director of the 1930s, Jeanne Toussaint) around the world from the Le Grand Palais in Paris to St. Petersburg, China, India, Africa and back to Paris where an equally breathtaking Shalom Harlow is waiting. No, this was not the average company video, but a film project that employed 60 of the best and brightest in the movie industry, was shot in France, Italy, Spain and Prague, and took two years to complete!

The real stars of this film were the panthers, Cali, Damou, and Tiga, who were trained to jump onto the moving biplane in the India scene while an actor was at the controls, and to slink seductively by Ms. Harlow while she sneaks a pet.